Dan Pelosi, aka @GrossyPelosi is an internet sensation. Not my words, but his publishers.

Another social media savvy person who actually benefitted from Lockdown, he began to share recipes from his New York apartment on Instagram during the pandemic and the rest is history.

Dan brings his larger than life personality very well to his first book. The reader is usually  addressed in ‘bro’ terms, so one gets to hear ‘dude’ and ‘hella’ a hell of a lot, and even in print he manages to still be camper than Xmas. The design and art direction is colourful and ‘in your face’.

He is an Italian American, so grandparents get a lot of mentions, and thus his food is very down to earth and unsubtle, which doesn’t mean it’s not very desirable. It all looks and sounds delicious and for millennials, not too difficult.  Big flavours, messy eats, it’s what they want.

In fact for those starting out living away from home, his ‘Grossery List’, a must have collection of store cupboard staples and necessary tools, will be extremely helpful. When I left home I only had a tin opener.

Of course UK readers will have to cope with temperatures listed in Fahrenheit, the usual confusing cup measures, the mystery that is Kosher salt, and vegetables going under different names to the usual.

101 recipes, all very attractive,  as well as lots of basic advice with pages dedicated to timings, some very useful advice and safety instructions on frying, with heart fluttering temptations such as fried stuffed olives,  and a dish of mozzarella, bread cubes and anchovy butter that had me reaching for the cooking oil. I just need to find out what a hoagie roll is.

His Marinated Tomato Toast is simple, if you can get decent tomatoes, and his Leftover Pasta Frittata is cunning, although who has leftover pasta? There can be nothing wrong with a chorizo, cannellini bean and kale skillet (frying pan) dish

Pelosi’s vodka sauce or ‘sawce’ as he calls it was all over the Internet at one point ( oil, butter, tomato paste, double cream, and vodka)  and qll his genuine Italian-American recipes strike a chord here in the UK too.

This is not subtle food, it’s not delicate, it’s not Michelin and it could possibly take years off your life with all the heavy ingredients. Still though, if you’re young you don’t need to worry about that yet. A very good book for the cook who wants to feed people without fuss.

Find it on Amazon